Presented by the University of Wyoming Department of Theatre
and Dance, and directed by John O’Hagan, “Stones in His Pockets” runs Tuesday,
June 25, through Saturday, June 29, at 7:30 p.m. in the Buchanan Center for the
Performing Arts (formerly Fine Arts Building) Studio Theatre. Tickets cost $10
for the public and $7 for students, senior citizens, and children over 5. Discounts are
available for groups of 20 persons or more. For tickets and information, visit
the Wyoming Union or Performing Arts box offices, call (307) 766-6666 or go online
at www.uwyo.edu/finearts.

O’Hagan says he loved the show when he had seen it at Boise
Contemporary Theatre and then again at Utah’s Shakespeare Festival. So, when
colleague Chris Will suggested the play would be a fun project for them to do
together, O’Hagan agreed.

“I like the play because it’s really uplifting, and it’s a
tremendous amount of fun to work on as an actor because the characters that you
get to play, and as a director, too, because I am working with two really
wonderful performers,” O’Hagan says.

Winner of the 2001 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, and
nominated for three Tony awards, “Stones in His Pockets” is a funny and
poignant two-hander about a rural Irish village turned upside down by the
arrival of an American film crew. Down-on-their-luck locals, Charlie and Jake,
hope to hit it big when hired as extras for the big-budget movie filming in
their County Kerry village, but soon discover that Hollywood’s romanticized
Ireland stands in stark contrast to harsh reality.

“Stones in His Pockets” features guest actors and UW alumni
Chris Will, assistant professor at Western Wyoming Community College, and Jake
Staley, a New York-based performer, taking on more than a dozen eccentric
characters, from the film’s spoiled American starlet to the star-struck locals.

“As an audience member, it’s really fun to watch that
instantaneous change that happens from one character to the next, without any
costume changes or fanfare, but just the actors inhabiting someone else moment
to moment,” O’Hagan says.

“Stones in His Pockets” is produced by special arrangement
with Paul Elliot, Adam Kenwright and Pat Moylan.

The Associated Press calls the
play “inventive and riotously funny,” and The Express says it’s "a delight
from beginning to end.”

Photo:UW alumnus Chris Will, who will perform with Jake Staley in
“Stones in His Pockets” June 25-29 at the UW Buchanan Center for Performing
Arts (WWCC Photo)